Design Master Wish List

The current releases are DM Electrical RT 1.1, DM Electrical 8.4, DM HVAC 7.3, and DM Plumbing 4.1. We are not adding new features to these releases.

The next releases will be DM Electrical RT 1.2, DM Electrical 8.5, DM HVAC 7.4, and DM Plumbing 4.2 We are actively working on these release and using this wishlist to guide which features we implement. Some features you see marked as “complete” will not be available until these releases are finished.

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Be able to show new and existing circuits on different layers in a panel schedule. The existing circuits would be on a lighter layer and the new circuits would be on a darker layer. The rest of the schedule could be on either the new or existing layer.

It is customary for circuits that are shared on opposite ends of a building or from one floor to the next to be identifed with multiple homerun symbols, with all but one of those homeruns labeled with "ON <Panel-Ckt>" rather than connecting with a loop. Currently, to do this, the homerun text itself must be modified, and this rarely works well because that text reverts back to the default <Panel-Ckt> text each time the circuits are updated.

I've given up on loop tickmarks for lighting loops (because of all the energy code relay and occupancy sensor requirements); but I still do tickmarks on power loops. It would be great to be able to more quickly toggle between displaying tickmarks on loops.

When defining fixed load on a panel schedule allow entry of per phase loads on two and three phase circuits in stead of lumped loads, i.e., on 2-pole circuit be able specify a load for phase A and B on any of the demand categories.

We often turn off printing of equipment label/leader, and use a keynote number with arrow instead. But we have to move the circuit to the equipment symbol, because it ends up under the equipment label (which we are not printing).

See NEC 220.43(B). The connected load for the branch circuit is the sum of the wattage of the connected light fixtures. The demand load is an additional 150VA per foot. I would like a place to enter the number of feet of track on a branch circuit so the demand load is calculated correctly in the load summary. We currently accomplish this through a 'Variable Caclulated Load', but it might be more intuitive if there is a 'Length Variable Demand' option. Thank you.

For limiting the current to track lights to meet Energy Code budgets, we use Current Limiting Panels like Silver Bullet. We have to manually size the circuit breakers based on the load on the lighting circuit. The breakers which might be 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 amps, etc. will only handle up to about 80% of their rating due to inrush current to ballasts and LED drivers. So, there is a lot of trial and error and manual calculating to size the breakers. Then the Current Limiting Panel schedule or diagram is updated manually in Acad, which introduces errors and inconsistencies. The Current Limiting breakers are wired between the branch circuit breaker and the tracks. An automated Current Limiting Panel would be very useful.

For limiting the current to track lights to meet Energy Code budgets, we use Current Limiting Panels like Silver Bullet. We have to manually size the circuit breakers based on the load on the lighting circuit. The breakers which might be 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 amps, etc. will only handle up to about 80% of their rating due to inrush current to ballasts and LED drivers. So, there is a lot of trial and error and manual calculating to size the breakers. Then the Current Limiting Panel schedule or diagram is updated manually in Acad, which introduces errors and…

It would be nice to have ribbon menu icon commands to turn the photometric layers on and off as well as automatically turn the respective layer back on after doing a recalc of either general or egress lighting.

It would also be nice if foot candle levels less than a certain value could be a different color. This would make it easier to spot levels below a certain threshold, like fc levels for emergency egress lower limits.

A function similar to “Find Uncircuited” that finds elements that are circuited but have not been looped – “Find Unlooped” or something of that nature. I often am at risk of missing a dedicated receptacle or single equipment connection that I circuited, but missed when I was going through the looping/home run process.